Wednesday, July 2, 2014

Bird Sounds on Big Action Records (& Printing)

The best tracks can be recorded in the middle of deadlines with that struggle to finally put a record out. In the case of Bird Sounds this EP was a rush to document their work before their drummer moved away. Not that any part of the production suffers in any way, they've got a clean, concise sound working for them but the things that are harder to fake like that energy, throwing yourself into a final recording are what's going to make this special. They've got nothing to lose, these three minutes chunks are going to be their legacy forever stamped into melted pellets of vinyl. DONT FUCK IT UP GUYS.

A-Side's "Country" opens with a snare kick stompy back and forth rhythm with a pop almost punk sounding jangle chords with a punchy Joe Strummer delivery from Matt and/or Jason who I think basically both take on vocals for this whole EP. Trading verses and waiting for the moment to open up these chords and plow straight through amps. Lots of layers, both screaming "I had a dream I saw you naked!" increasing this plateau from the thin jangle to immense sandstorm, a freaking epic storm opens up on those plains. It wasn't like this minutes ago, they sneak up on you and crank bendy chords into string breaking blues. On "Seen It Coming" a somber melody opens with the thud of toms and a vocal delivery with plenty of distance in a kind of Modest Mouse off kilter manic a capella. The whole feel of this track slowly slides into a primitive country sound with the chant of leather around the campfire. A raw sounding bass line plugged straight into that console with that Violent Femmes boing is the last sound you'll hear.

On B-Side's "Ben Frank" the reel to reel tape winds up to speed with a warble of Unwound style piles of distortions, a chorus and phaser walking down the aisle before breaking up into jagged stabs at new chords. Those chords get big ideas and start hanging out with the cymbals, staying out late, walking each other home after work. It's obvious now looking back they were really meant to be together. They needed each other to make this bashy rock mean something. Those cymbals are only a memory now but you only have to lift the needle a few inches back to remember the good old days.

Get this from Big Action Records who also are a print shop now (?) Who else would have done this massive screen printed four panel poster art as the sleeve. Really really nice stuff.

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The End

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